Episode Summary
Hosts
Graham Dunn, Jamie Rooney
Phil Craig
Guest(s)
Release Date
25 September 2025
Duration
65 min
In this episode of By Far The Greatest Team, Graham Dunn and Jamie Rooney and guest Phil Craig turn their attention from Derby County’s Clough-era greatness to their infamous 2007–08 Premier League season — a campaign that ended with just 11 points, the lowest total in English top-flight history.
The hosts unpack what went wrong: poor recruitment, managerial instability, and a squad simply out of its depth. They revisit the chaotic sequence of events that led from Billy Davies’ promotion to Paul Jewell’s doomed rescue mission, analysing how structural missteps and financial realities collided to produce one of football’s most unforgettable disasters.
But this episode goes deeper. Derby’s collapse becomes the lens through which Graham and Jamie explore football’s greatest failures — stories that transcend results to reveal human resilience, fan loyalty, and the absurd beauty of sport’s unpredictability. From Darwen FC (1898–99) — the early pioneers who fell apart under the pressures of professionalism — to Schalke 2020–21, a modern superclub’s implosion, and Brechin City 2017–18, whose winless campaign redefined Scottish endurance, the discussion charts the universality of failure in football.
It’s a darkly comic, oddly inspiring journey through the underbelly of the game — proving that greatness isn’t only found at the top of the table.
Takeaways
Derby County’s record-breaking Premier League disaster (2007–08)
Why managerial decisions and player investment shape survival
Darwen’s pioneering history and tragic Football League exit
Schalke’s financial and on-pitch implosion in 2021
Brechin City’s winless nightmare and what it says about football’s unpredictability
Brechin City (2017–18) – Winless but Unbowed
Scottish football’s history is rich with great escapes, but Brechin City’s 2017–18 season offered no such miracle. Promoted to the Championship against all odds, the small Angus club quickly found themselves out of their depth. Under player-manager Darren Dods, Brechin fought every week but couldn’t bridge the gulf in class or resources.
By December, survival was already a fantasy. They finished the campaign with 4 points — 4 draws, 32 defeats — and became the first Scottish side in the professional era to go an entire league season without a win.
Their story, however, is remembered not for ridicule but for resolve. The players trained part-time, balanced day jobs with football, and still turned up with pride. Fans kept singing, banners kept flying, and the club refused to sack their manager mid-season — an act of loyalty rare in modern football.
Brechin’s campaign became folklore: the embodiment of the lower-league spirit where effort counts as much as success. Their relegation to League One, and later the Highland League, couldn’t erase that. The season stands today as a badge of endurance — a reminder that failure, when faced with dignity, can still be something worth celebrating.
Main Topics
Iconic Moments
Winless Scottish Championship campaign and record lows
Player-manager Darren Dods’ leadership challenges
The gulf between part-time and full-time football
Supporter loyalty amid adversity
Turning failure into folklore and community pride
Winless season
Relegated with seven games left
Four draws total
Notable Manager
Darren Dods (player-manager)
Notable Players
Paul McLean, Finn Graham, Euan Spark, Graeme Smith
Style of Play
4-5-1, defensive, deep block, counter-attack, compact, reactive
Deep 4-5-1; defensive, counter-attacking, relied on spirit over quality
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